reSearcH is sERIous Fun

Project Information

SHERIF

Grant agreement ID: 818506

DOI

10.3030/818506

Project closed

EC signature date 9 July 2018

Start date 1 June 2018

End date 30 November 2019

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 286 062,50

EU contribution

€ 275 712,50

Coordinated by

ETHNIKO KENTRO EREVNAS KAI TECHNOLOGIKIS ANAPTYXIS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SHERIF (reSearcH is sERIous Fun)

Reporting period: 2019-03-01 to 2019-11-30

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Researchers’ Night events of the “SHERIF” project in 2019 took place in 6 different major Greek cities, spread almost nation-wide. The events and the awareness campaign that preceded them aimed mainly at increasing public awareness regarding the significance of research on society, the attractiveness of the researcher's profession, especially among the young audience and the EC research efforts and investments.

An intensive awareness campaign was undertaken, including TV, radio spots and interviews of highly-profiled researchers at the national level, spreading the messages throughout the country while; at the local level, traditional communication ways of promotion were blended with innovative ones to provoke the curiosity of local communities.
The project addressed the public at large in all its components, with a strong focus on young people and kids.
In such a context, the benefits and interests of the researcher’s profession were described and illustrated thanks to the numerous researchers directly and actively involved in the activities in direct contact with the audience.
The broad range of activities offered included hands-on experiments, shows, simulations, presentations, interactive lectures, workshops, games, competitions, demos and guided visits.
The events were mainly located in central places of the cities, consequently offering the possibility of interaction between the public at large and the researchers.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work Package 1 - Awareness campaign

Overview of the results
o Conception, realisation of promotional material: posters in various formats, leaflets, programmes (various sizes), banners, give away (balloons);
o Advertising in public places (cafes, stores, malls, libraries) and public transport through posters or electronic displays;
o Articles, announcements and advertisements published in newspapers and magazines (e.g. Kathimerini newspaper);
o Press releases sent multiple times sent to all media, networks and collaborators;
o Production of radio spot and video spot for all cities of both consortia; The spots were sent in central TV Stations (e.g. ERT), as well as in 15 radio stations;
o Announcement sent in all schools;
o Invitation and Announcement was sent to all secondary and high schools of Athens through the respective Secondary Education Directorates; Overall, 1.500 schools in all participating cities were invited through e-invitations;
o Invitation to the educators’ broader community through engaging the Central Directorate for School Counsellors;
o Visits to schools; speeches to students about various research topics and the RN events;
o Sending of electronic invitations;
o o Revamping, constant updating and maintenance of project website: www.researchersnight.gr (detailed info, objectives, programme, FAQs, etc.); In a period of 45 days (1 Sep 18 – 15 Oct 18), 14.285 users visited the website (11.718 during the same period in 2018) with 67.880 views (53.674 in 2018) and an average session duration of 00:02:01 (00:02:11 in 2018);
o National social media accounts were maintained and updated centrally while each partner maintained its local social media accounts to promote their activities and maximize impact;
o About 2.000.000 people made aware of the Researchers' Night and its objectives.


Work Package 2 - Activities during the Night

Locations
Athens, Thessaloniki, Patras, Heraklion, Larissa and Rethymno.

Venues
o Athens: National Technical University of Athens, Patission Historic Complex, Averof Building;
o Thessaloniki: Thessaloniki Concert Hall (TCH);
o Patras: pedestrian of Riga Ferraiou street, Patras’ busiest pedestrian street in the city centre, building of the Chamber of Achaia (located on the pedestrian of Riga Ferraiou);
o Heraklion: premises of FORTH;
o Larissa: Tachydromeon Square;
o Rethymno: Institute of Plasma Physics & Lasers, Hellenic Mediterranean University;

Overview of the results
Offer of the activities globally as planned and described in the Grant Agreement Annex I Part B, namely:
o Dozens of hands-on experiments;
o Cutting edge exhibitions;
o Interactive Games and guided lab tours;
o Speeches of prominent researchers;

Approximately 850 researchers from all career stages actively involved in the activities, of whom:
o 35 having benefitted from a Marie Curie scheme;
o 97 having benefitted from other EU support, under FP7 and/or HORIZON 2020;

Over 23.000 visitors having taken part in the various activities offered, distributed as follows:
• Thessaloniki: 4.700;
• Athens: 13.000;
• Patras: 1.350;
• Heraklion: 2.750;
• Larissa: 1.000;
• Rethymno: 500

One European corner per event was placed in a frequented area of the venue. Gadgets, treasure hunts and catchy videos were used in order to attract participants. Also each European corner featured an EU roll-up banner whose design was sent by the Commission and was printed by each partner.

The project created two videos showing activities during the Night:
• A 4-minute video that includes some of the highlights from all the events. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qSGpt7exQM&t)
• A 4-minute video exclusively for the activities carried out in Thessaloniki (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMCP0yNqkQI&t)


Work Package 3 - Impact Assessment

Tasks undertaken
An electronic survey was conducted asking from the participants of all events to evaluate the Night. The results of the survey were combined with data from the website, the SHERIF social media accounts and the "People counters" installed in the venues to conclude whether the Night (awareness campaign + pre-events + events) were successful.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Overview of the results
o Collection, analysis and processing of 847 views through filled in e-questionnaires;
o Main conclusions:
o Typology of visitors: about 67% female, 33% male, aged 40-54 for 54,55% responders, 86% of responders having a university degree and 65,6% newcomers;
o Knowledge of the event: “Social media” (41,67%), “articles on internet” (28,45%), “Friends/Family” (20,89%) and “Exhibitors/Researchers taking part in the Night” (9,68%);
o Overall positive feedback regarding the event itself (activities, interest, contacts with researchers, concrete organisation, scheduling, venues and locations, entertainment, volunteers);
o Most successful activities: interactive experiments and robots;
o Less successful activities: speeches;
o Impact on public image of researchers and their work: Increased awareness about the societal impact of the researchers' work, in particular towards citizens' daily lives;
o Increased awareness about the importance of research activities for the progress of society;
o Impact on interest for scientific careers, in particular amongst young people: Increased interest for science and science careers expressed by visitors in particular young people, after having taken part in the Night's activities.
o 76,40% of the participants were aware that the EC was the main funding body of the Nights;
Possible improvements: a longer lasting event, starting early in the afternoon and lasting until late at night.

Photo from 2019 Thessaloniki event

Photo from 2019 Thessaloniki event

Photo from 2019 Heraklion event

Photo from 2019 Heraklion event

Photo from 2019 Patras event

Photo from 2019 Athens event

Photo from 2019 Thessaloniki event

Photo from 2019 Athens event

Photo from 2019 Larissa event

Photo from 2019 Athens event

Photo from 2019 Larissa event

Photo from 2019 Thessaloniki event

Photo from 2019 Athens event

Photo from 2019 Patras event